AFTER having caught practically nothing up to this point, recreational anglers and all those financially dependent on school bluefin tuna fishing have been shut out of the fishery as of Monday with its closure by the National Marine Fisheries Service.

If the past is any indicator, NMFS will spend a month or more determining

that very little of the quota has been used and will then reopen the season sometime in September for a few weeks before shutting it down again without ever updating the catch until winter.

“That was what happened last year as the quota was greatly underfished while both sportsmen and charter-boat owners swung in the breeze due to the total lack of concern exhibited by the agency,” said Tom Fote of the New Jersey Coast Anglers, who sent a letter to the NMFS venting his anger.

“This is in direct contrast to the commercial side of the bluefin fishery, where the agency keeps track day-by-day and adds fishing days or extends seasons to ensure that every last possible giant is killed. Angling Category participants are required by law to report their catches of school tuna, but NMFS refuses to similarly update catch statistics in order to keep the fishery open.”

There’s little enough left of what was traditionally the most important fishery for charter and private boats along the New York and New Jersey shores, but NMFS seems intent on eliminating opportunity whenever it may occur in an unpredictable oceanic fishery.

“Though great sympathy is expressed about any losses incurred by commercial fishermen and the agency rushes to distribute taxpayer funds to those who have done the greatest damage to resources, both anglers and the charter- and party-boat owners serving them are totally ignored,” said Fote.

The once-vibrant fall party-boat bluefin fishery has been totally eliminated since those boats can’t fish with a limit of two school bluefins per boat, and not a penny of compensation has been offered to make up for those financial losses. Charter-boat skippers who used to make a living from June to October fishing for school tuna have either had to switch to running 80 miles offshore to the canyons for other tunas, or get out of the business – without a NMFS buyout!

Is it any wonder that recreational anglers are convinced of NMFS commercial bias when angling seasons are closed without any justification and no attempt is made to re-open them on a timely basis while exactly the opposite is the case with commercial tuna fishing?

The NMFS service uses the excuses of the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna rules to do whatever it wants. The service ignores the fact that this is one of the few countries that actually obeys the rules. ICCAT member nations are harvesting thousands of times more small bluefin tuna than we are.

ICCAT member nations have no regard for recreational anglers; all they care about are commercial fishing. For the U.S. delegation to allow this miscarriage of justice to the American angler to continue is criminal. For NMFS to be a party to this miscarriage of justice is typical NMFS mismanagement of the recreational sector.

NMFS mismanagement has reduced school bluefin fishing to less than a tenth of what it used to be before the agency was established, but even the hope of being able to catch one or two is enough to keep some anglers who can’t afford $2,000 canyon trips interested if NMFS would permit them the opportunity in the middle of the season.